


Sickdays 4.0

by karmarocks



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Injury, M/M, Sick Keith (Voltron), Sickfic, Sneezing, sneezefic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-11 14:15:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13526010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karmarocks/pseuds/karmarocks
Summary: I know I said I'd be working on some of my other WIPs but I've put those on hold to work on some of the prompts for Sickdays 4.0 on tumblr XDSorry lol





	1. Day 1: The Oblivious Partner

“MY HAIR!”

Keith winced as his boyfriend snatched the umbrella from his hand and scampered as quickly as he could towards the science building-without Keith, naturally-to protect his hair from being messed up by the rain.

Keith walked leisurely after his boyfriend, feeling himself beginning to shiver. He knew he was coming down with something, so why try to fight it? The damage had already been done so there was no sense in risking dropping all his things by running to the building.

Keith was shivering uncontrollably after the five-minute walk in the rain and could already feel that this cold would be a doozy. He allowed himself to cough briefly, both to get Lance’s attention and to rid himself of the tickle that plagued his throat.

Lance looked back from where he’d been chatting with Hunk and Pidge and twirled the umbrella in his hands, flashing a cheeky grin.

“Thanks babe! You know I have to protect my hair at all costs.”

“Mm-hmm. I know, Lance. All that styling you did earlier can’t be wasted.”

“You mind if I keep this during lab?”

Before Keith got a chance to respond Lance was throwing a “thank you!” over his shoulder and racing to his class.

-

By the time Keith’s 3-hour lab was finished, he was pretty sure his lab partners hated him even more than they had before. Rollo had even done some work for once when Keith’s hands were shaking so badly that he couldn’t hold the boiling beaker properly with the shoddy tongs they were given. Why did it have to be so freaking cold in the labs? Keith, whose clothes had finally dried, was dismayed to see that Lance’s lab had gotten released before his own, and that Lance had apparently decided he needed his boyfriend’s umbrella more than Keith, and had taken it from its spot in one of the cubbies outside of the lab.

“ _H’kxthch! Hh…heh’kdch’uh!_ ”

Aaaaaaand there were the rest of Keith’s symptoms that had been making themselves increasingly known throughout the lab. Nyma had scooted her stool a little further from Keith every time he sneezed and she’d moved almost four feet by the time Professor Coran had dismissed the class, casting a concerned glance towards Keith as he exited the room as quickly as possible.

Keith was trying to avoid Shiro, as his adoptive brother had been looming a few feet away from him throughout the entire lab, trying not to embarrass him by fussing, and completely neglecting his duties as TA.

“Keith!”

_Great. I’m gonna get a lecture about forgetting an umbrella—oh wait! LANCE has my umbrella._

Keith rolled his eyes, still bitter about his boyfriend’s betrayal from earlier. As he turned around to talk to Shiro, the tickle from earlier once again assaulted his nose, and he was forced to muffle four sneezes into his jacket sleeve, not having time to try to stifle.

“ _Ha’mmphsh! Mmph! Ksh! Eh’mpch!_ ”

“Bless you! I was just about to comment on the frequency with which you were doing that, Keith.”

“Why don’t you comment on the frequency with which you refused to help a student because you were focused on me?” Keith snapped, trying to locate something to wipe his nose on in his backpack, his sleeves were used up, and now that he had access to his things again he wanted to find something _dry_ to sniffle into.

He was pleasantly surprised when Shiro handed him a travel packet of tissues, feeling a little guilty for his harsh words. Shiro was just concerned for his health after all.

“Thaggs. Sorry for beigg ad ass, it’s just that Ladce—”

“Let me stop you right there, buddy. Blow your nose so I can understand you.”

Keith blushingly complied, softly blowing while refusing to make eye contact with his brother. Once he trusted his voice not to be so congested, he tried again.

“Lance took my umbrella from me this morning and ran to class because he didn’t want to mess up his hair. I was just a little chilled in lab, but I think I’ll be okay now that I’ve warmed up.”

He tried to sniffle as discreetly as possible as another relentless tickle was awakened in his sinuses.

Shiro looked skeptical, but didn’t comment as they made their way to the front of the building in silence, both shocked when they saw Lance sitting on a bench with Keith’s bright red umbrella.

“Hey! Sorry for taking your umbrella. My lab got out like an hour early so I went ahead and ran to the post office and came back to walk with you so you won’t get all wet like you did this morning!”

Shiro decided not to make a comment on Keith’s health while Lance was around, taking pity on the frantic manner with which Keith hid the pack of tissues in his pocket and instead elected to depart in the opposite direction, offering a small wave to signify his departure.

Keith, feeling yet another tickle prick in his nose, just offered a smile in response to Lance’s long-winded explanation and followed his boyfriend outside.

Lance kept most of the umbrella for himself, so Keith’s shoulder was soaked by the time they made it to his dorm, causing him to have to fight off small shivers as he hugged Lance goodbye, not wanting to kiss his boyfriend if he was in fact coming down with something, which he probably was at this point _._

Lance, though disappointed that he didn’t get a farewell kiss, decided that Keith was just grumpy about being left in the rain earlier, and brushed it off.

Keith frantically scrubbed his wrist under his nose as soon as he was turned away from Lance, he just had to hold back the sneeze until he made it inside— _“Heh!”_

“Did you say something, Keith?”

 _“Ihh_ -Ndo _._ Bye! I’ll see you at didder!”

Keith nearly slammed the door behind him as he let out an embarrassingly loud “ _Heh-ISHEW!_ ”

He snuffled into his arm pitifully, half wishing that Lance had been observant enough to notice his current affliction.

After grabbing some tissues and swiping at his streaming nose, he curled up in bed for a short nap. _Just half an hour,_ he thought to himself, trying to set an alarm but not…making it…

-

“-eith? Keith, honey, are you awake? Oh, sweetie you look terrible!”

Lance exclaimed, palming Keith’s forehead and tutting at the heat.

“You seemed fine earlier, how did you get so sick?”

“Umb…I thigk I bight have gotted a bit chilled durigg lab. Shiro always said that if I kept mby hair wet I’d get sick…”

He murmured, not really thinking about what he was saying. He looked up to see Lance tearing up a bit,

“W-wait what’s wrogg? What did I do?”

He panicked, getting up to try to hug his boyfriend but doubling over with a harsh set of coughs,

“No, it’s not you babe. How could I not notice you were soaking wet before lab? And _I’m_ the one who forgot my umbrella. It should be me who’s sick, not you!”

Lance sniffled, looking up to see Keith offering a tissue. Keith got the adorable little embarrassed look he sometimes got when he was being romantic,

“I’d buch rather be the ode who’s sick if it beads you dod’t have to suffer, Landce.”

Lance giggled at his boyfriend’s congested words,

“Okay loverboy, blow your nose and then we can cuddle and watch a movie,”

“No cuddligg, I dod’t wadda get you sick, but a bovie soudds great.”

“Blow your nose, Keith! Then we’ll negotiate how much I’m gonna cuddle you!”


	2. Day 2: The Good Samaritan

Keith winced as he slipped and fell flat on his face on the ice again. The rest of the group was far ahead of him on the enormous ice skating rink, and his pride wouldn’t allow him to call out for help. He’d just have to make it on his own. _Remember what Lance said, it’s just like walking. Just keep your balance. You’ve got this._

He’d caught on pretty quickly in his opinion, already taking longer strides and speeding up a bit. This was fun! As his confidence built so did his speed, and soon enough he was nearing one of the sides of the rink. It was then that he remembered nobody had taught him the logistics of turning. Or stopping. Well shit.

In retrospect, Keith thought he handled the situation fairly gracefully, he made no noise so as not to cause a scene, and just smashed right into the wall. Attempting to prop himself up on his arms so he could stand again lead to a small yelp of pain as he felt a sharp sting in his left wrist.

Very carefully he stood back up, wobbling and ducking his head a bit as he felt hot tears rise when he accidentally moved his injured wrist. Where were the others? He needed Shiro’s comforting presence right about now. Hell, Shiro could probably carry him off of this godforsaken ice to safety. And to the emergency room because his wrist was starting to swell. Why can’t things ever be easy?

_Okay. One foot in front of the other._

He tripped and fell face first onto the ice, narrowly avoiding crushing a small child in his descent. _Fuck_ that hurt. Much to his dismay the little boy turned around and began examining him as he tried to pick himself back up, feeling his hips and knees protest as well as his wrist-he’d be hella bruised in the morning if he got out of this alive. _I’m going to kill Shiro for making me come to this._

“Do you need help?”

The little boy skated a lazy, effortless circle around Keith, who was back on his wobbly way towards safety.

Keith gave him a side-eyed, hopefully passive, look and continued concentrating on the task at hand, nearly losing his balance and hissing in pain as he wind milled his arms and, once again, jostled his injured wrist. Much to his surprise a small but firm hand steadied him, and then pushed on his back so he was slightly hunched over,

“You need to lower your center of gravity. Your balance won’t be good if you’re leaning backwards like you were just now,”

The little boy gingerly took Keith’s non-injured hand, thankfully, and began to skate forward a bit, pulling Keith with him,

“You have to take longer strides, the shorter ones will make you trip and fall. Don’t forget to keep your knees bent!”

He scolded lightly, but his presence was steadying and calm.

“That’s it! Long strides, keep your back relaxed!”

They skated—well, the little boy skated, Keith just did his best to follow instructions, almost falling every once in a while. He spotted Lance and Pidge out of the corner of his eye taking videos of him being pulled around by a kid that was like 10.

But Keith was proud of himself, he was really doing it! He was skating! After a while the little boy even let go of his hand because Keith was steady enough to keep going on his own.

“Great job!”

Keith beamed down at him, and suddenly remembered his manners,

“Thank you so much for helping me learn to skate, little man. I’m Keith, what’s your name?”

“I’m George. You learn quickly for someone that was just on his face on the ice.”

Keith laughed good-naturedly, wobbling a bit as he forgot to keep his back relaxed, but George steadied him with a hand to the small of his back.

Keith kept his injured arm close to his body, forgetting about it entirely in his excitement. He shouted at the others to come over and meet his new friend.

The group sped over and they all laughed at Keith’s escapades on the ice.

George glanced at the big clock on the wall of the rink,

“Oh geez, I need to go. I have homework to do. Thank you for letting me teach you! I had a great time!”

Keith, absolutely shining with gratitude that George had saved his ass from having to shout for Shiro across the ice and embarrassing himself, held his arms out for a hug, which George gladly gave. Keith’s arms met the small boy’s shoulders and he gasped, dots crossing his vision. The pain was almost unbearable and he nearly passed out, but he grit his teeth and breathed through the worst of the pain. As calmly as possible, Keith removed his arms from around the boy and turned to Shiro, whose face went grim with worry when he saw the tears streaming down Keith’s cheeks,

“I need to go to the hospital,”

He gasped out,

“Wrist. Broken. Hurts a lot…”

Shiro’s strong arms wrapped around him, his eyes glinting with concern as he lifted Keith into his arms and rushed off of the ice.

The ride to the hospital was a blur of tears and muttered affirmations from Shiro that Keith would be okay. The next thing Keith knew he was in the hospital waiting room, his head in Shiro’s lap. Shiro was examining his swollen wrist,

“That’s definitely broken, buddy,” he said when he noticed that Keith was conscious. Then, trying to keep things light,

“Now how did you achieve breaking a wrist while ice skating? You don’t have to use your hands,”

Keith looked sheepish, grimacing at the memory,

“Stopping has never been my forte, Shiro. I slammed into the wall.”

“Well it’s a good thing little George saved your ass. I got his mom’s number, she says that George is very concerned for you, and would like to give you another skating lesson to help you feel better.”

Keith groaned a bit but smiled, his escapades on the ice weren’t quite over apparently.


End file.
